Triathlon - Another my first tri report ;)

Did the JerseyMan sprint yesterday morning. This one is a 1KM swim, 19.5 mile bike and 5k run. I am a pretty average cat3 cyclist with zero running or swimming training within the past 10 years. Been off the bike for a full month at this point, also. I wanted to try some other things on the off season. I really enjoy a self paced race like a Time trial or hill climb race and thought this would be interesting to check out.

Water was reported to be 73 F. I bought a speed suit the other day and was feeling a bit nervous due to the fact that 95% of the people had wetsuits. Going into the water in the first minute I thought I was going to have to be pulled out. All I could see was brown, I had people wacking my legs and I was breathing on every stroke and of course only on one side. I used to swim competitively, but this was 13 years ago and in a pool with my own lane so this is all very new to me. I quickly switched to back stroke and spent the remainder of the time on my back where I could calm myself down and breathe easier. Thankfully I did not get yelled at for doing this. Even if it was completely inefficient, it got me through it! 0.6 miles in 23:44 - 2nd slowest among all of those who finished before me. The following 10 guys who beat me were also faster than me on the swim.

My biggest mistake was taking off the timing chip and putting it into my pocket in the 1st transition. I was worried it would come off and I guess I just did not know enough about the technology to know that the chip needed to low and completely exposed to read. This is most unfortunate because first of all I feel like an idiot, got yelled at (I got yelled at at the finish line of my first tri!!! argh!) and finally I missed out on valuable split info. Lin-Mark did a great job of timing; by the time I got home results already on the internet?!?! These guys surely posted the results FROM the parking lot... impresssive!!!!!!! http://www.lin-mark.com/NJmansprint08.txt

On the bike.... started to rain as soon as we got on. I tried to get into a rhythm but didn't really find it, I would say mostly due to trying to make sure I went the right direction and just staying safe in the rain. There were a few spots were there were cop cars but nobody directing us which way to go. I guessed stay straight and was lucky - because I believe a few people made wrong turns. There were plentiful "arrow" signs directing us in the case where there was no person, though my vision is so bad, I can't see them until I get very close. Probably need contacts or glasses in sports frame. Overall it was a fun ride, pretty hilly, and I know I beat everyone's bike split even if it wasn't posted due to my chip being unreadable :)

On the run, we started off and were told to go the wrong way. Ouch! I sat at the "T" for a good minute pondering the thought of going the wrong way and finally got the go ahead to go the opposite way that we'd been told originally. Thankfully I had only gone a very short while. I was really dragging on the run and think I could have given in a lot more. Based on my known bike and swim and an avg transition times, my run was P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C. No excuses man!!!

Overall it was a great race. I feel awful for the promoters/RDs who did a really great job despite the fact that a huge amount of volunteers did not show up due to the rain. I heard they were down 50 people. I will definitely be doing another triathlon. Oh, I won in my (25-29) AG which was sort of my silent goal. I am looking to do olympic distance but would definitely consider a sprint again. I doubt, at least for a long time you will see me doing a 70.3 or longer.

Thanks for the guys here for answering my dumb newbie questions. Just experiencing one usually helps to work out the rest of the kinks.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?evgroupid=0&userid=tigerpawimages&gallery_id=1295630&image_id=46
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?evgroupid=0&userid=tigerpawimages&gallery_id=1295634&tcount=216&scount=53
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?evgroupid=0&userid=tigerpawimages&gallery_id=1295632&tcount=870&scount=12
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?evgroupid=0&userid=tigerpawimages&gallery_id=1295629&image_id=39

Congrats! :beer:

I'm surprised you guys were able to do the swim--you're not too far up the coast from where the swim at my Tri got cancelled. Weather was just as crappy down in DE, though...

Way to go! War stories are part of the fun, and once you weather a few races with say, less than perfect conditions, there isn't much that can shake you. So much of this sport is mental and attitude, especially as you go for longer and longer distances. Great attitude and great race!

Well last week wasn't enough. On Friday I signed up for my first Half distance (70.3), bought a wetsuit and bought my USAT license.

Sunday, 1 week after my first tri, I did and completed the BassMan half distance triathlon!

Here are the results:
http://www.dqtridu.com/bassfallhalf08.htm

I did it in just about 05:14 (I would guess this would be considered a fast course) and the gave me "3rd" in my AG (not sure how that is since I count 3 [not 2] guys in my AG ahead of me, not counting anyone in the top 3 overall, which I think would put me at 4th).

Going into it my biggest worry was either freezing in the water, or freezing once I got out of the water and onto the bike... driving to South Jersey @ 4:30am, the temp in the car was reading in the 40s!!! Thankfully the wetsuit helped out a lot. My pace went from 39minutes/mile (for .6 miles) from my Sprint last week to 30minutes/mile in the 1.2 yesterday. The water also seemed to be much calmer and in water visibility was much better.

My T1 was pathetic, 05:38!!!! not sure what took me so long but I think I was just fumbling a lot :) T2 was also slow. I was slow putting on my HRM which I should have done out on the course.

Bike was fine, went out a little bit too hard judging by the avg power @ 220 for the first half, and 200 for the second half. Need to get into the mode of steady constant power... think I could get the avg speed up by a few more tenths of a mile this way.

Run, avg'd 8.5+ minute miles. I would say I could have gone a bit faster, but did not want to risk blowing up since I have 0 experience running. Out of the gate, my HR was 160 and climbed steadily to 170 BPM by the end, even at the same pace. Avg was 163 for the half, I might be able to take that up a few BPM and still do even splits.

Bike computer said I burned 1900 calories. I went for all solid foods on the bike because I knew I wouldn't really be able to take that stuff in on the run. Probably about 900 calories from the end of the swim to the end of the bike.... My HRM says 1500 calories for the run, which I would guess it roughly accurate if not over only by 200 calories. During the run I only took in 2 gel packets and some very small cups of accelerade that were provided. Overall I think fuel was just about at the right level although I am having a bit of a hard time understand how... maybe just burned a lot more fat than I am used to (bike racing) due to the lower intensity and long duration.

Few complaints were no clock, anywhere!!!!! More milemarkers would be nice. Going from MM10 to MM13 with no markers is cruel!!!!! There was a buoy that we were supposed to "hug" next to but swim to the right of and people were cutting across. They should have had us go to the left of the buoy. I will of relay these suggestions to the race director...Otherwise very well executed...homemade chicken and rice with cilantro and bread at the finish is much nicer than hot dogs and hamburgers!!!

Overall it was a great experience. I am a bit sore today but nothing awful. I'd like to hit sub 5 just because its seems like a nice even number that is feasible with some good old hard work. I can't believe the guy who won... avg 24.6 MPH on the bike and swim in 23:37!

No pics yet...!